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Energize Yourself By Living In The Present Moment!

Put your hand up if you feel tired all the time. Just a sec. Hmmmm … one, two, three … wow, that’s a lot of hands!

Now, put up your hand if your mind is going a mile-a-minute, 24 hours a day. Whoa, baby! Same number of hands!

Coincidence?

Hardly!

When I ask people how they’re doing, quite often the response is, ‘busy.’ Sometimes they say, ‘busy, busy, busy!’

Wow! What about ‘awesome’ or ‘fantastic’ or ‘couldn’t be better?’ (You should see the looks I get from people when I tell them I couldn’t be better. They always smile, but it’s with that smile that implies, ‘you’re nuts!’)

When people say ‘busy, busy, busy,’ I just want to run … far away! Seriously! They scare me. I don’t want to catch whatever it is they’ve got.

A couple of years ago, I read a book by Sakyong Mipham called Turning The Mind Into An Ally. Mipham talks about a ‘walking’ meditation practiced by Buddhists, where you don’t take a step unless you are only thinking about taking that step. I decided to practice a variation of this technique (otherwise, I never would have gotten off the front step). While I am walking (usually along the lake), I say, “Now I am placing my mind in the present moment.’ Then I take a deep breath and simply look around, observing, (without thinking) for as long as I can.

When I do this, the feeling is euphoric. Things appear in 3-D. Colours are more vivid. Sounds are more distinct. And I feel energized.

More recently I have been studying Eckhart Tolle (his whole life is about living in the now) and I have made ‘living in the moment’ a continuous practice. It’s not easy, because the mind (aka, the ego) wants to do its own thing. But the benefits are amazing. I am sleeping better. I am happier. And I am more energetic. And I love it!

There are three things you can do to practice living in the moment:

Focus on your breath. Breathe in (listen to the sound) and exhale (listen to the sound). You can do this anywhere, anytime. It works because you can’t think and focus on your breath at the same time.

Completely focus on what you are doing. For example, when you are making the bed, focus entirely on it. Feel the sheets in your hands. Notice the sounds. It’s much easier to focus on what you are doing if you really enjoy it. That’s why I like playing the guitar. It’s amazing how fast two hours can disappear.

Look up. It’s much easier to stay present when you are looking up. You observe more and think less. Try it.

When you live in the present moment, you are never busy, you just are!

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12 comments on “Energize Yourself By Living In The Present Moment!”

Love this one, Fred! I’ve had the same response to and from people that you related here. So many cannot grasp as yet how anyone “couldn’t be better” right now. Great tips to get people out of their heads and into a greater sense of their beingness.

Thank you Rayora. I conducted a karate belt grading on the weekend and one of the students burst into tears because she was so worried about getting her next belt … even after I encouraged the kids to just focus on doing their best in each moment. We need to teach this to our children and practice what we teach. Cheers.

This post is really great and totally true, whenever I find my thoughts trying to shatter my present moment, I always have to ask my heart…” what are you without at this moment” and the answer is always the same. Nothing! But the mind wants us to spin with worry about things in the future or things we have no control over so the mind can control us!

Thank you WOW! I am fascinated by the workings and ‘spiritual’ purpose of the mind … why it seems to work against us rather than for us. I have a brother who is mentally challenged and he never suffers because he always lives in the present moment!

I know exactly what you mean… and isn’t it amazing that your brother gets to live in the moment without any struggle but has the struggle of the physical world and judgement of people for not being in their spinning ego of false understanding of what the moment truly is… Your brother walks in love more than the rest of us and that is a beautiful place to be, I would love to hang out with him.

Wonderful post, I am trying to do that to and don’t always succeed. Living in the now and living in the moment is what I am mostly doing. Your tips are very helpful, thank you. Meditating is something I am still learning. I have given up to assume, to expect, but take it as it comes and deal with things at the time. Like that you worry less and you don’t get dissapointed either.
I have to say I love my life as it is and I find it pretty amazing.

That’s awesome Ute. I think living in the moment is a minute-by-minute (mis)adventure because we’re constantly having to bring our mind back from places we really don’t want to go. So it’s great to have a good attitude about it! Cheers!

Thank you Fred this is a wonderful post, I would also love to hear you playing the guitar, maybe a future blogpost??? I remember the days when I always used to say “busy, busy, busy” when I read that in your post it made me laugh because I now realise how much I have grown from then and I know those words will never come from my mouth again. Thank you for sharing this, I really connected with it. Clarabelle